The Importance of Grass Height

The length of the grass is often underestimated as a factor for it’s health. In fact it’s quite important for your lawn and its ability to defend itself from invading weeds and pests that harm it. Keeping the grass longer helps it produce more grass blades, “learn” to grow upright, and be more tolerant to shade and drought.

The height of the grass is directly connected to how deep the roots will go, and thus changing it’s height will always impact the watering needs.

Short grass – Shallow roots.

Lawns with shallow roots are sickly and can’t defend against weeds. Additionally they will go dry faster and will require more frequent watering. Droughts will also be more devastating.

Keeping your grass longer means:

You can mow less frequently

You can water less frequently

Your lawn will build up higher pest tolerance

Mowing Too Low Can Only Bring Problems

The crown is the most important part of the plant. Healing your lawn back from scalping is very hard and may give enough opportunity for weeds and/or disease to develop.

Моwing too low will scalp your lawn and hurt the grass crown.

With that said, it’s okay if you mow it too short once or twice. The problems start when you scalp your turf on a regular basis.

So if you want to save time on lawn mowing, choose a slow growing grass for your turf and keep it fluffy.

A lot of people make the mistake to drastically shave off their lawn if they’ve been away from home for a while and the lawn has overgrown in their absence. This stresses the grass immensely and can ruin it’s healthy growth depending on how severely cut back it was. Following the rule of mowing only a third, it should be returned to it’s desired length in a few mowings, instead of all at once.

The rule of thumb is to always cut no more than a third of the total grass length. This allows it to recover more quickly and promotes healthy growth. If you want your grass to be 4cm long, you want to mow it when it is 6cm long, for example. Check our guide on how often to mow the lawn.

Grass Type Factors Into the Equation

Every type of grass has a range with an optimal minimum and maximum height. However, during the height of the summer when it is really hot and there are drought conditions, your lawn should be at it’s optimal maximum height. This will encourage slower regrowth after mowing, fewer lawn weeds and fewer lawn pests. It’s a proven recipe for a beautiful and healthy lawn.